More fresh produce

It just keeps getting better. Now the local bananas are back in season, along with these strange looking oranges called “naartjies”. I assume that's just Afrikaans for “orange” since in Spanish the word is “naranja” and in Italian “arancia”. The naartjies have a greenish-yellow peel which makes one think they've been picked too early; however the insides are much like tangerine – decidedly orange and decidedly tasty.

The finger bananas don't look like much on the outside (one would expect to see them on the mark-down rack at the supermarket), but inside they're oh-so-sweet and full of flavour. The texture is very smooth and creamy.

Local produce - yummy!

In addition, the maize crop is about ready to harvest. After a dry spell of a few weeks duration, the rains came back but with not as much gusto as in December-January. Nevertheless, the rains returned at just the right time to rescue the crops from an otherwise disappointing (disastrous?) harvest. Stella, our cleaner, planted maize in the garden, which has grown to about three metres tall. I never knew maize would grow that high!

The towering stalks of maize in the backyard.